Thursday, June 7, 2012

Virgil and Dante find themselves in Circle Eight, Bolgia Four with the Sinners from Fortune Telling and Divining. Here the sinning souls of all those who attempted by forbidden arts to look into the future. Among these damned are Amphiareus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eurypylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente.

Dante’s “Vantage point permitted a clear view of the depths of the pit below: desolation bathed with the tears of its tormented crew, who moved about the circle of the pit at about the pace of a litany procession. Silent and weeping, they wound round and round it.” “And when [Dante] looked down from their faces, [Dante] saw that each of them was hideously distorted between the top of the chest and the lines of the jaw; for the face was reversed on the neck, and they came on backwards, staring backwards at their loins, for to look before them was forbidden.”

Since the heads of these sinners are turned backwards, their tears ran down their backs, and down the between the cleft of their buttocks. These sinners contrapasso is for the sinners to not be able to see in front of them, for they sought to penetrate the future. Since they attempted to move themselves forward in time, so must they now go backwards through all eternity. Similar to the arts of sorcery being a distortion of God’s law, so are their bodies distorted in Hell.

Virgil to Dante says “But come: Cain with his bush of thorns appears already on the wave below Seville, above the boundary of the hemispheres; and the moon was full already yesternight, as you must well remember from the wood, for it certainly did not harm you when its light shone down upon your way before the dawn.” As Virgil spoke to Dante, they “Traveled on.”

Canto XX: Analysis:

Virgil and Dante find themselves in Circle Eight, Bolgia Four with the Sinners from Fortune Telling and Divining. Here the sinning souls of all those who attempted by forbidden arts to look into the future. Among these damned are Amphiareus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eurypylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente.

Dante’s “Vantage point permitted a clear view of the depths of the pit below: desolation bathed with the tears of its tormented crew, who moved about the circle of the pit at about the pace of a litany procession. Silent and weeping, they wound round and round it” (4-9). Regarding the “Litany procession,” litanies are chanted not only in church before the mass, but sometimes in procession, the priest chanting the prayers and the marchers the response. The processions move very slowly.

“And when [Dante] looked down from their faces, [Dante] saw that each of them was hideously distorted between the top of the chest and the lines of the jaw; for the face was reversed on the neck, and they came on backwards, staring backwards at their loins, for to look before them was forbidden” (10-15).

“When Dante looked down from their faces” is a typical Dante for of writing (10). It features the description as though the eye pin-pointed on one feature of a figure seen at a distance. The pin-point must then be deliberately shifted before the next feature can be observed.

Dante “Saw the image of our humanity distorted so that the tears that burst from their eyes ran down the cleft of their buttocks” (22-24). Since the heads of these sinners are turned backwards, their tears ran down their backs, and down the between the cleft of their buttocks.

These sinners contrapasso is for the sinners to not be able to see in front of them, for they sought to penetrate the future. Since they attempted to move themselves forward in time, so must they now go backwards through all eternity. Similar to the arts of sorcery being a distortion of God’s law, so are their bodies distorted in Hell.

Dante “Wept. [Dante] leaned against the jagged face of a rock and wept so that [Virgil] said: ‘Still? Still like the other fools? There is no place for pity here. Who is more arrogant within his soul, who is more impious than one who dares to sorrow at God’s judgment?’” (25-30) Virgil scolds Dante for showing pity. This is the first time Virgil scolds Dante for showing pity. It may be that Dante was not yet ready to recognize the true nature of evil. An alternative may be that Virgil is fallible.

Virgil asks, “Wither do you flee, Amphiareus? Why do you leave the field?” (33-34) Amphiareus is one of the seven Captains who fought Thebes. Statius tells how he foresaw his own death in this war, and attempted to run away from it, but was swallowed in his flight by an earthquake.

Virgil continues, “See Tiresias, who by his arts succeeded in changing himself from man to woman, transforming all his limbs and all his parts; later he had to strike the two twined serpents once again with his conjurer’s wand before he could resume his manly lineaments” (40-45). Tiresias is a Theban diviner and magician. In Ovid’s “Metamorphoses, III,” it tells how Tiresias came on two twined serpents, struck them apart with his stick, and was thereupon transformed into a woman. Seven years later he came on two serpents similarly entwined, struck them apart, and was changed back into a man.

Virgil states, “There is Aruns, his back to that one’s belly, the same who in the mountains of the Luni tilled by the people of Carrara’s valley, made a white marble cave his den, and there was unobstructed view observed the sea and the turning constellations year by year” (46-51). Aruns was an Etruscan soothsayer, Aruns foretold the war between Pompey and Julius Caesar, and also that it would end with Caesar’s victory and Pompey’s death. Luni is an ancient Etruscan city. The Carrarese valley is famous for its white marble.

Virgil tells, “High in sweet Italy, under the Alps that shut the Tyrolean gate of Germany, there lies a lake known as Benacus roundabout. Through endless falls, more than a thousand and one, Mount Apennine from Garda to Val Cammonica is freshened by the waters that flow into that lake. At it center is a place where the Bishops of Brescia, Trentine, and Verona might all give benediction with equal grace” (61-69). Benacus is the ancient name for the famous Lago di Garda, which lies a short distance north of Mantua. The other places lie around Lago di Garda. On an island in the lake the three dioceses conjoined. All three bishops had jurisdiction on the island.

Virgil explains, “Peschiera, the beautiful fortress, strong in war against the Brescians and the Bergamese, sits at the lowest point along that shore. There, the waters Benacus cannot hold within its bosom, spill and form a river that winds away through pastures green and gold. But once the water gathers its full flow, it is called Mincius rather an Benacus from there to Geoverno, where it joins the Po. Still near its source, it strikes a plain, and there it slows and spreads, forming an ancient marsh which in the summer heats pollutes the air. The terrible virgin, passing there by chance, saw dry land at the center of the mire, untilled, devoid of all inhabitants. There, shunning all communion with mankind, she settled with the ministers of her arts, and there she lived, and there she left behind her vacant corpse. Later the scattered men who lived nearby assembled on that spot since it was well defended by the fen. Over those whited bones they raised the city, and for her who had chosen the place before all others they name it—with no further augury—Mantua. Far more people lived there once—before sheer madness prompted Casalodi to let Pinamonte play him for a dunce” (70-96).

Casalodi is Albert, Count of Casalodi and Lord of Mantua. Casalodi let himself be persuaded by Pinamonte de Buonaccorsi to banish the nobles from Mantua. Casolodi banished them in fear of the nobles becoming a source of danger to his rule. Once the nobles had left, Pinamonte headed a rebellion against the weakened Casalodi and took over the city for himself.

Virgil to Dante points out, “That one whose beard spreads like a fleece over his swarthy shoulders, was an augur in the days when so few males remained in Greece that even the cradles were all but empty of sons. He chose the time for cutting the cable at Aulis, and Calchas joined him in those divinations. He is Eurypylus” (106-112).

Eurypylus was a Greek augur. According to Greek custom an augur was summoned before each voyage to choose the exact propitious moment for departure, cutting the cables. Eurypylus and Calchas were selected to choose the moment for Agamemnon’s departure from Aulis to Troy. The cradles were empty of sons at the time of the Trojan War. According to mythology Greece was said to be so empty of males that scarcely any males were found even in the cradles.

Virgil to Dante draws attention to, “The other there, the one beside him with the skinny shanks was Michael Scott, who mastered every trick of magic fraud, a prince of mountebanks” (114-117). Michael Scott was an Irish scholar of the first half of the thirteenth century. Michael Scott’s studies were largely in the occult.

Virgil to Dante “See Guido Bonatti there: and see Asdente, who now would be wishing he had stuck to his last, but repents too late, though he repents aplenty” (118-120). Guido Bonatti was a thirteenth century astrologer of Forli. Bonatti was a court astrologer to Guido da Montefeltro. Bonatti advised Guido in matters of war. In the thirteenth century, Asdente was a shoemaker of Parma. Asdente turned diviner and won wide fame for forecasting predictions.

Virgil to Dante says “But come: Cain with his bush of thorns appears already on the wave below Seville, above the boundary of the hemispheres; and the moon was full already yesternight, as you must well remember from the wood, for it certainly did not harm you when its light shone down upon your way before the dawn” (124-130). Cain with a bush of thorns was the medieval equivalent of our Man on the Moon. Dante’s reference to Seville means all of Spain and the Straits of Gibraltar, which were believed to be the western limits of the world. The moon is setting. The moonlight appears on the western waves on the morning of Holy Saturday, 1300.

As Virgil spoke to Dante, they “Traveled on” (131).

Canto XX: English Translation:

(1) Now must I sing new griefs, and my verses strain
(2) To form the matter of the Twentieth Canto
(3) Of Canticle One, the Canticle of Pain.

(4) My vantage point permitted a clear view
(5) Of the depths of the pit below: a desolation
(6) Bathed with the tears of its tormented crew,

(7) Who moved about the circle of the pit
(8) At about the pace of a litany procession.
(9) Silent and weeping, they wound round and round it.

(10) And when I looked down from their faces, I saw
(11) That each of them was hideously distorted
(12) Between the top of the chest and the lines of the jaw;

(13) For the face was reversed on the neck, and they came on
(14) Backwards, staring backwards at their loins,
(15) For to look before them was forbidden. Someone,

(16) Sometime, in the grip of a palsy may have been
(17) Distorted so, but never to my knowledge;
(18) Nor do I believe the like was ever seen.

(19) Reader, so may God grant you to understand
(20) My poem and profit from it, ask yourself
(21) how I could check my tears, when near at hand

(22) I saw the image of our humanity
(23) Distorted so that the tears that burst from their eyes
(24) Ran down the cleft of their buttocks. Certainly

(25) I wept. I leaned against the jagged face
(26) Of a rock and wept so that my Guide said: “Still?
(27) Still like the other fools? There is no place

(28) For pity here. Who is more arrogant
(29) Within his soul, who is more impious
(30) Than one who dares to sorrow at God’s judgment?

(31) Lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes and see
(32) Him the earth swallowed before all the Thebans,
(33) At which they cried out: ‘Whither do you flee,

(34) Amphiareus? Why do you leave the field?’
(35) And he fell headlong through the gaping earth
(36) To the feet of Minos, where all sin must yield.

(37) Observe how he has made a breast of his back.
(38) In life he wished to see too far before him,
(39) And now he must crab backwards round this track.

(40) And see Tiresias, who by his arts
(41) Succeeded in changing himself from man to woman,
(42) Transforming all his limbs and all his parts;

(43) Later he had to strike the two twined serpents
(44) Once again with his conjurer’s wand before
(45) He could resume his manly lineaments.

(46) And there is Aruns, his back to that one’s belly,
(47) The same who in the mountains of the Luni
(48) Tilled by the people of Carrara’s valley,

(49) Made a white marble cave his den, and there
(50) With unobstructed view observed the sea
(51) And the turning constellations year by year.

(52) And she whose unbound hair flows back to hide
(53) Her breasts―which you cannot see―and who also wears
(54) All of her hairy parts on that other side,

(55) Was Manto, who searched countries far and near,
(56) Then settled where I was born. In that connection
(57) There is a story I would have you hear.

(58) Tiresias was her sire. After his death,
(59) Thebes, the city of Bacchus, became enslaved,
(60) And for many years she roamed about the earth.

(61) High in sweet Italy, under the Alps that shut
(62) The Tyrolean gate of Germany, there lies
(63) A lake known as Benacus roundabout.

(64) Through endless falls, more than a thousand and one,
(65) Mount Apennine from Garda to Val Cammonica
(66) Is freshened by the waters that flow down

(67) Into that lake. At its center is a place
(68) Where the Bishops of Brescia, Trentine, and Verona
(69) Might all give benediction with equal grace.

(70) Peschiera, the beautiful fortress, strong in war
(71) Against the Brescians and the Bergamese,
(72) Sits at the lowest point along that shore.

(73) There, the waters Benacus cannot hold
(74) Within its bosom, spill and form a river
(75) That winds away through pastures green and gold.

(76) But once the water gathers its full flow,
(77) It is called Mincuis rather than Benacus
(78) From there to Governo, where it joins the Po.

(79) Still near its source, it strikes a plain, and there
(80) it slows and spreads, forming an ancient marsh
(81) Which in the summer heats pollutes the air.

(82) The terrible virgin, passing there by chance,
(83) Saw dry land at the center of the mire,
(84) Untilled, devoid of all inhabitants.

(85) There, shunning all communion with mankind,
(86) She settled with the ministers of her arts,
(87) And there she lived, and there she left behind

(88) Her vacant corpse. Later the scattered men
(89) Who lived nearby assembled on that spot
(90) Since it was well defended by the fen.

(91) Over those whited bones they raised the city,
(92) And for her who had chosen the place before all others
(93) They named it―with no further augury―

(94) Mantua. Far more people lived there once―
(95) Before sheer madness prompted Casalodi
(96) To let Pinamonte play him for a dunce.

(97) Therefore, I charge you, should you ever hear
(98) Other accounts of this, to let no falsehood
(99) Confuse the truth which I have just made clear.”

(100) And I to him: “Master, within my soul
(101) Your word is certainty, and any other
(102) Would seem like the dead lumps of burned out coal.

(103) But tell me of those people moving down
(104) To join the rest. Are any worth my noting?
(105) For my mind keeps coming back to that alone.”

(106) And he: “That one whose beard spreads like a fleece
(107) Over his swarthy shoulders, was an augur
(108) In the days when so few males remained in Greece

(109) That even the cradles were all but empty of sons.
(110) He chose the time for cutting the cable at Aulis,
(111) And Calchas joined him in those divinations.

(112) He is Eurypylus. I sing him somewhere
(113) In my High Tragedy; you will know the place
(114) Who know the whole of it. The other there,

(115) The one beside him with the skinny shanks
(116) Was Michael Scott, who mastered every trick
(117) Of magic fraud, a prince of mountebanks.

(118) See Guido Bonatti there; and see Asdente,
(119) Who now would be wishing he had stuck to his last,
(120) But repents too late, though he repents aplenty.

(121) And see on every hand the wretched hags
(122) Who left their spinning and sewing for soothsaying
(123) And casting of spells with herbs, and dolls, and rags.

(124) But come: Cain with his bush of thorns appears
(125) Already on the wave below Seville,
(126) Above the boundary of the hemispheres;

(127) And the moon was full already yesternight,
(128) As you must well remember from the wood,
(129) For it certainly did not harm you when its light

(130) Shone down upon your way before the dawn.”
(131) And as he spoke to me, we traveled on.